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Temple History

WHY AND HOW IT STARTED

The initial impetus to build a Hindu temple in Fort Worth stemmed from the need for a place of worship and a community center closer to the residents of Fort Worth and surrounding cities. Members of Sathsangh and Bala Vihar groups that were meeting in private homes initially came up with the idea of building a temple with facilities for worship, Sathsanghs, BalaVihar classes and cultural activities. The idea for building the temple is to bring together Hindus and spiritual seekers of all origins in the rapidly growing city of Fort Worth, and surrounding areas. Currently Fort Worth is the 10th largest and a rapidly growing city in the United States. Along with the growing city, the Hindu community is also steadily growing. The firm belief is the proximity and easy access of the facility will encourage active involvement of youth and adults alike.

While the Temple serves as a place of worship, the community center will provide the venue for yoga and meditation classes, philosophical and religious discourses, educational and cultural activities, as well as charitable social activities. The community center will facilitate networking, greeting new arrivals to the area, organize support groups and provide some assistance and health care to the needy. It will also have a hall and kitchen facilities to host community functions and celebrate our family and religious events. Highest among our priorities is to promote an ambience that is conducive to the participation of our youth and thus assure the permanence of the temple and Hindu dharmic tradition and pass it on to our next generation in a much more appealing and effective way.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Several prominent members of the community in the greater Fort Worth area came together to take on the challenge of building a Hindu Temple and community center to meet the needs of the community. In December 2007 a certificate of incorporation was obtained under the name of Hindu Temple of Greater Fort Worth. The IRS granted the status of Non-Profit Organization to the temple under Section 501(c)3

The Board of Trustees (BOT) was formed in the year 2007 initially with a 7 member board. The BOT was also called the SEVA committee signifying the SEVA (selfless service) as the main motivating aspect of the board of trustees. The 7 members of the initial board were (in alphabetical order):

Dr. Subrahmanyam Boyareddi

Dr. Vijay Kalaria

Mr.Viran Nana

Dr. Vasanth Namireddy

Mr. Murali Vennam

Dr. Venkateswara Rao Namburu

Mr. Satish Tiwari

In 2010 the board was expanded to include 6 more board members;

Mr.Basu Bhandari

Mrs.Ranna Jani

Mrs.Pushpa Mundluru

Dr.T.S.R.Murugan

Dr.Arvind Nana

Dr.G.R.Reddy

Dr.Raj Tanna

Mr.Viran Nana exited the board later to be on the construction committee.

Mr.Venkat Namburu has been serving as secretary for the last seven years. He has been with the project from the beginning and in fact he is the first one to float the idea of building a Hindu temple. He is very passionate about the project and contributed to the project with his time and money. He spent tremendous number of hours in compiling the devotee information and maintaining it.

Mr.Murali Vennam has been serving as treasurer working diligently to keep records and accounts over the last 7 years. For a project of this magnitude, keeping financials up to date is not an easy task. In addition to that, he has been managing the financials of construction by putting enormous amount of time maintaining the accounts accurately up to the penny. He has been very passionate about the project and devoted his energy in advancing the project in different aspects. His broader outlook, long term vision for this project and experience and involvement with other social and cultural organizations are very valuable.

Mr.Raj Tanna, one of our board of trustees, became ill few years ago. Even while fighting the illness he still maintained an active interest in the project, and kept inspiring all of us to carry on with the project and build a beautiful temple. He passed away recently and is missed tremendously by the entire community. May his soul rest in peace; his principals and selfless service will continue to be our guiding light.

The board adopted preliminary by-laws for the temple in 2008, with revised final by laws to be adopted before the temple grand opening.

Board of trustee ( BOT) leadership:

Mr Satish Tiwari served as chairman of BOT from 2007- 2009.

Mr. Viran Nana served as chair of the BOT for a few months in 2009.

Dr. Subrahmanyam Boyareddi became the chair of BOT in the end of 2009, and has tirelessly worked to keep the project moving forward through a critical period over the last four years. He has been commuting from Mineral Wells for the last nine years for every board meeting and functions. He has lead the board by example of hard work, dedication, inspired others by his extremely generous donations to the project.

Dr.Vijay Kalaria is chairman-elect of the board and will assume leadership during Diwali 2014.

NEPALI COMMUNITY

There are many Nepali families in and around Fort Worth area and they are an integral part of the Hindu Temple of Greater Fort Worth. The first Nepal wedding took place in the interim temple at the Hulen Pointe. Mr. BasuBhandari, as a member Board of Trustee, represents Nepal community and has been very active in the project and Nepali community fundraising efforts.

LAND ACQUISITION

The land for the construction of the permanent temple was acquired thanks to the generosity of many community members who came together and formed Sanjeevani Group, LLP. This group aim is to infuse life into community and charity projects (hence the name “Sanjeevani”).

Strategic location of this land parcel, with great access and surrounding ambience will allow ease of use and create a hub for religious and cultural activities for Indian community of Greater Fort Worth metroplex.

Subsequently seven acres of land was donated by Sanjeevani group to “Hindu Temple of Greater Fort Worth” organization. This completely free land donation provided a vital impetus to move project forward.

INTERIM TEMPLE

While waiting for the construction of the permanent temple the idea of starting the interim temple was initiated by Mrs Subhashini Boyareddigari, Mrs Lakshmi Namburu and Mrs. Puspha Mundluru. Mr. Om Agrwal worked closely with the executive committee in getting the interim temple started. Thanks to their vision, dedication and hard work the temple was started at Hulen Pointe Mall at 6233 Oakmont Boulevard, Fort Worth, Texas. An executive committee was formed to manage the temple with Mrs. Subhashini Boyareddigari served as the chair; other members included Mrs. Lakshmi Namburu, Mrs. Pushpa Mundluru, Mrs. Rana Janni, Mr. Kirit Patel, Mr. Sai Gottumukkala and Mr. Raghupathi Boorla. All of them, as a group, worked cohesively to run the temple very successfully. Their sense of duty and dedication is well appreciated. A full time priest was appointed in January 2010 and he conducts all religious services in the temple and as well as devotees home. This temporary temple facility galvanized the community and brought the community together. Current serving priest is SriMurali KrishnaGaru and he is playing a crucial role in the success of temple.

Dr. Arvind Nana and family has generously provided living quarters for the priest family and made sure our priest is comfortably situated.

Many Hindu festivals, religious and cultural events were celebrated in the temple in a grand way. Several discourses by eminent spiritual guru’s have been well attended. Large crowds at all of the above functions further attested to need for a larger temple facility.

Usthava Vigarha Prathisthapana of 8 dieties starting with Ganenesha was done over a span of many months. The dietieswere Lord Ganenesha, Lord Venkateswara (Balaji), Lord Shiva, Goddess Durga, Lord Krishna and Radha, Lord Rama and Parivar, Lord Murugan and Goddess Lakshmi. Tirupathi Tirumala Davasthanamr from Tirupathi donated many of the idols. Mr. J. Venkata Reddy coordinated the efforts from India, and help is well appreciated. Several members played a key role in Prathisthapana by taking the lead role. Balaji (Subhashini Boyareddigari) Shiva (Lakshmi Namburu) Durga (RannaJani) Murugan (TRS Murugan) Krishna &Radha (Dr. Sath Gupta) Lakshmi (Lakshmi Namburu) Ganesha (PushpaMundluru) Ram Parivar (Koki Bhatia). Mr. VasanthNamireddy and his wife UshaNamireddy sponsored several of the idols. Mrs. UshaNamireddy has been a great volunteer and helped with many of the events. Mrs. Subhashini Boyareddigari, as a chair of the executive committee working closely with the other members of the executive committee, did an excellent job of getting the interim temple on a firm footing. Starting of the interim temple in Fort Worth was a historic event as this is the first ever Hindu temple in Fort Worth. She was succeeded by Mr. Raghupathi Boorla as the president of the temple executive committee in 2010. In 2012 Mr. Kirit Patel took over as the president and contributed to the continued success of the temple. From January 2013 until now Mrs. Lakshmi Namburu is serving as the President of the executive committee of the temple. Her sincere hard work and dedication to the temple will always be remembered. She remains an inspiration to many people in the community and plays a crucial role in the daily functioning of the temple.

Countless volunteers helped to organize many successful cultural events. Mr. Harshad Patel has been maintaining a photo history of all the temporary temple events.

Youth activities and Bala Vihar classes were started in the temple facility under the direction of Mr. Satish Tiwari. Subsequently Mrs. Rita V. Patel (Kalaria) took the lead and is currently coordinating classes for our youth with the help of Mrs. Savita Sharma. Plans are for significant expansion of Balvihar and youth activities in the new facility.

PERMENANT TEMPLE BUILDING

With the interim temple well established and successfully run by the dedicated volunteers, the BOT embarked on the vision of building a permanent temple building. The construction committee was formed who put together the architectural plans and a building permit was obtained from the city of Fort Worth. Tremendous work went into the planning and getting the project started. The construction committee members consists of Dr Vasanth Namireddi (chair), Mr. Viran Nana, Mr. Mowlesh Ramarpu, Mr. Bhaskar Pabba. MrsPratixa Patel and Dr Vijay Kalaria have been helping with the later part of the construction and finish out aspects of the facility.

Our sincere thanks go to all the construction committee members. Mr. Vasanth Namireddi, Mr. Mowlesh Ramarpu, and Mr. Viran Nana who played a crucial and commendable role in the execution of the project, and for many hours spent at the construction site to make a quality and beautiful building. HMS Construction LLC was willing to help us with the construction and after reviewing all the bids the corporation was awarded the contract. They wanted to promote Hindu cause and has done a high quality construction in a cost effective manner. We will always be thankful to Mr. Manher Patel, Mr.Hashmuk Patel, and their associates.

FUNDRAISING

Fundraising efforts were initiated and through patience and planning we have been able to raise 1.4 million dollars as of today and $200,000 more in pledges. Many board members and community members have pursued difficult fundraising through a highly challenging economic times. Dr. Vijay Kalaria has served as the chairman of fundraising committee. Special thanks to Boyareddy, Namburu, Jani, Munduluru, Vennam, and Kalaria families for their tremendous and relentless fundraising efforts, without which this project will not have been financially feasible.

The ground breaking ceremony (Bhoomi Pooja) was celebrated on the 27th of October 2012. Over 700 people attended the function and the function was graced bySatguru Bodhinatha Veylanswamiof Kauai Hindu Monastery, Hawaii, Swami Sarveshanandaji of Chinmaya Mission Dallas, Texas, Honorable Congresswomen Tulsi Gabbard, Honorable Mayor Betsy Price and many city council members. The event was a grand success. Through the generous support of the community and divine intervention the first phase of construction of the permanent temple began at 3000 Longvue in Fort Worth. Although it seemed a far flung idea before initiating the project, the dream of building a permanent temple became a reality thanks to the sincere and unwavering efforts by the Board of Trustees, executive committee members of the temple, community leaders and many volunteers.

GRAND OPENING CEREMONY (Kumbhabishekam and Prana Prathistha)

The ceremonies of Kumbhabishekam and Prana Prathistha of Lord Ganesha, Lord Shiva and Lord Sri Venkateswara are scheduled for the week of June 3rd to June 8th. The concept of the temple is Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu (Venkateswara) as the main idols and their parivars. Lord Shiva parivar includes Goddess Durga, Lord Murugan and Lord Ganesha. Vishnuparivar includes Goddess Lakshmi, Lord Krishna and Radha and Lord Rama and Parivar. All in all 8 dieties will occupy the temple. Sthapathi Selvanathan guided us over the last several years in getting the temple project done according to Sastharas and Agamas. He is a renowned Sthapathi and we were fortunate to have his guidance. SatguruBodhinathaVeylanswamiof Kauai Hindu Monastery, Hawaii is considered our guru for the temple and has guided us over the years and we are fortunate to have his support and wisdom. Our regards and sincere thanks to Bodhinatha Swami, SanyasinSenthilnatha Swami of Kauai Hindu Monastery.SanyasinSenthilnathaswami closely worked with us and have been very helpful over the years and we thank him for that.

FUTURE PLANS

Over the next couple of years the Board of Trustees, executive committee of the temple and several community leaders and volunteers will work hard to complete Indianization of the temple building. We plan to do Pranaprathistha of Lord Krishna and Radha, Lord Rama and Parivar, Goddess Lakshmi, Goddess Durga and Lord Murugan idols. We also hope to build a bigger community hall, auditorium, meditation hall, spiritual school with a library and youth oriented facilities.

We request the entire community to participate and enthusiastically support the project through generous contributions and/or volunteer services to make this project a pride our community.